AICTE Working on Consolidating Engineering Exams

A bane for many aspiring engineering students in India has been the convoluted and complex system of multiple entrance exams that are required for different engineering colleges in the country. In fact, this has been a hot topic for discussion for several years and whatever decision the bodies who are responsible have taken has always seemed very counter intuitive. However now, the AICTE has approved a new regulation which dictates that admission to every engineering college across India will be granted through one single entrance exam, which definitely simplifies the process greatly for students in the subcontinent.

This single exam was a part of an extensive package that was approved by the All India Council for Technical Education (or AICTE). These have all been made in the expectation that they will help to improve the quality and experience of education in the field of engineering. The main statutory body for technical education at the national level in India, the AICTE holds a lot of authority among engineering colleges in the country. In keeping with this move, they have also urged institutions nationally to implement more courses for induction as well as annual revisions of their curriculum, training for faculty through the SWAYAM program among many other reforms.

How it is Being Done

A total of an amount of about two-hundred and fifty crores would be set forward for the implementation of the entire package as specified by the AICTE. The SWAYAM program was developed by the government with the aim of collecting the best educational resources available and providing them to all students, irrespective of background in an effort to curb the disparity in the quality of education in various regions of the country. This would work wonders at bridging the digital divide in the country. The single entrance test, on implementation, would then work to make obsolete the age-old format of conducting various exams by central, state and private institutions and agencies, as the case may be. This would thus, be the solution many have been clamouring on about for years.

The regulation had been brought up as a response to the HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar’s directive which spoke of similar moves to simplify the entire process of applying for technical education. The regulation is yet to be approved by the HRD Ministry, pending which it would be then sent to a gazette for national notification. This national test would be designed to resemble the NEET (or National Eligibility Cum Entrance Test) which has been proven to be a good platform for what it is. This is a good example of the ministry learning from success and acceptance from one sector and effectively translating it over to another sector.

The interesting fact, however, is that students who wished to enter the prestigious IITs across the country would still have to write the JEE-Advanced after clearing the common exam. This would mean that there is not much change in this respect and students must still jump and extra hurdle for this honour. It would thus appear, that this might just be a whole lot of window dressing, and the true effectiveness and earnesty of this move, are yet to be understood and judged.